The pitch of tones within tonal patterns emitted by ambient condition detector units and systems in the alarm or testing state is not always optimum to be heard by a wide range of users. As one example, the elderly often suffer from a deficit of high frequency hearing sensitivity and may hear a lower pitch tonal pattern better than a higher pitch pattern. Other users may respond better to a higher pitch tonal pattern. As another example, various types of ambient noise may result in a tonal pattern containing preferred pitch tones that could most readily be heard in the event of a sensed ambient condition. Many conventional ambient condition detectors emit a tonal pattern with an average tone pitch on the order of 3 kHz in frequency.